China's chief justice Xiao Yang said in Beijing Tuesday that the Chinese people's courts have over the past five years closed 99,306 embezzlement and bribery cases and brought 83,308 corrupt officials to justice. "They included 2,662 public servants at and above the county (sectional) level, 65 percent more than in the previous five years," said Xiao, president of the Supreme People's Court, in his report on the work of the Supreme People's Court to the ongoing first session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature. These results, Xiao said, have testified to the intensified efforts by the people's courts in dealing with job-related crimes and those offering bribes to government functionaries. In addition, Xiao said, the people's courts have also meted out punishments on cases of abusing powers and dereliction of official duties that caused heavy losses to the state and collectives and on officials directly responsible for major accidents due to negligence. (Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2003)